1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal (also called a mobile terminal) for controlling a vehicle using a short message such as an SMS message and a method for controlling the same, and more particularly to a mobile terminal and method for providing a user with a simple user interface to enable the user to easily control a vehicle at a remote site using his or her mobile terminal, and at the same time recognize a current status of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a remote control device (also called a remote-controller) has been adapted to control a vehicle at a remote site. In this case, if a user transmits vehicle control information at a specific frequency to a destination using the remote-controller at a nearby position of the vehicle, the vehicle receives vehicle control information from the remote-controller, analyzes the received information, and performs a necessary operation associated with the received information. In this case, the user must carry the remote-controller to control the vehicle, resulting in greater inconvenience for the user. The less the size of the remote-controller, the less the number of control commands that can readily be transmitted using the remote-controller.
There has also been proposed a method for allowing a mobile terminal to establish a call-connection state with a communication module contained in a vehicle. In this case, the mobile terminal makes a telephone call to the communication module of the vehicle, and transmits a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) signal corresponding to a predetermined control command to the vehicle, such that the vehicle having information associated with the control command corresponding to the DTMF signal can recognize the control command corresponding to the received DTMF signal and can perform a necessary operation corresponding to the recognized control command. The aforementioned method for enabling the user to establish a call-connection state with the communication module of a vehicle must perform a predetermined vehicle control operation upon receiving an information message from the vehicle, resulting in greater inconvenience for the user, an increased unnecessary time consumption, and increased communication charges assessed to the user.
In the meantime, there has recently been proposed yet another method for controlling a vehicle using an additional communication module (e.g., Infra-red Data Association (IrDA)-based or Bluetooth-based systems) built in the terminal or vehicle. However, this method has a disadvantage in that it must satisfy a predetermined communication specification for use and the communication modules must be built into the terminal and the vehicle, resulting in increased production costs. In addition, the communication module has been designed only for a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), such that it cannot control the vehicle at a remote site. In other words, the communication module can remotely control the vehicle only when a distance between the vehicle and the communication module is shorter than a relatively short predetermined distance, resulting in greater inconvenience for the user.